America

Economy failing, "but we will recover"


-from ideas in one of Obama's recent speeches.

My Ideology

Yes. I have a relationship with Jesus and He is the most important part of my life. The values that He has are mine. It is really important to me to love others and to share His love with them; as well as to be honest and kind. I guess a way to show some things that are important to me is this verse, “Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and self control” Galatians 5: 22-3.
I find peace and joy in following Him and love going to Him for guidance, help, and love. It is important to me to get closer to Him and to let Him change me and challenge me so that I can grow in Him. The things that He has done/is doing in my life amaze me. I could never life without Jesus, my savior, father, and friend.

Combat Operations

I think that they are similar operations in that both Che and the US are/were fighting to overthrow a group of people. I think that this operation in Pakistan has more justification because they are fighting against people who have hurt their nation. Che, on the other hand, just picked Bolivia. He didn't really do it because the people did not like their ruler, it seemed that he just wanted to train citizens and fight. Che was the happiest when he was out hiding away and fighting. Bolivia really didn't need a force fighting to overthrow their government, Che just decided that he wanted to. (possible there was some influence of others involved with his situation.). Another difference between the two is that the Pakistani people want help to get the torists out, but many of the people whom Che got to join him quickly deserted him because they were not fighting their own cause. He also lied to his men to get them to join him, so even those who stuck with him could have possibly not wanted to help his "cause".

Overall, I think that these two articles are more different from each other, then similar.

The Voice of Che

The whole book is told like a story from Che. He does a good job describing everything and making his journey and "adventure" for the reader. I think that his first entry is interesting because he tells you his outlook on the whole journey and how we can believe or not believe him, but won't know any better because you were not there. That is an interesting beginning because it leaves you wondering whether or not you can believe him. He uses diction and tone to bring this feeling across. I also find the note to his mother on page 50 interesting. He tells her not to worry, but then tells about all of the bad things that took place on the journey so he leaves her worrying that maybe one day he will face a challenge that he can not overcome. (diction, detail). Che also uses a lot of detail in his writing. One of the first examples of this is when he describes the beach on page 34. "The full moon is silhouetted against the sea, smothering the waves with silver reflections. Sitting on a dune, we watch the continuous ebb and flow, each with our own thoughts (34)." He does a really good job with having the reader feel like they are a part of his adventure. He also relates things of nature to his life...like the waves are like his own thoughts. I think that this makes his journal more interesting to read. The only problem is that with all his rambling about different things, I forget what I am reading and have to reread everything.

Who Killed Che?

The Bolivian soldiers killed Che. In the documentary they said that an American man was there as well, so maybe the US also wanted him to die and had an influence in the decisions that the Bolivians made. It doesn't seem that the commander holding him wanted to murder him because he was having conversation with him and making sure he was ok. I think the decision came from somewhere else. It seems that Castro also did not want Che around anymore so he could have supporting his killing.

"There is nothing lonelier than adventure."(22)

"There is nothing lonelier than adventure." I took a journey, on my bike, through the America's to discover something. The nature was beautiful, but quiet. The people I saw that were in poverty were there, but they didn't have a voice. Everything was quiet and lonely. Sometimes you have to be alone to discover things, many times it is worth it, but it is still lonely. When I realized that my calling was to fight for freedom, I found that it would be a lonely path. I was never with my family and I was too hard on my myself and my men to have time for fun. I had a great adventure and made history and yet I was alone a lot of the time.

Che's Ideology

I think that originally Che wanted adventure. On his trip he saw all of the hurting people and wanted to help. He did not want people to be in poverty and horrible conditions. That is probably one of the reasons why he decided to fight in Cuba's revolution. I think later he changed, because he so enjoyed fighting, and just started more revolts to start them.

American Music

I think that it would be interesting to write a documentary about American music. I am taking a class about American Music at Montco. I think that it would be interesting to look about how the different cultures that came to the Americas changed the music and how it was integrated with the music of the native American cultures that were already living there. It would be relevant to today because all of the music that we now have is a result of past music. For example different African cultures had a lot of rhythm, which could be like modern day hip hop. They also have music with parts sounding like blues. Some songs in Anglo Celtic cultures used pentatonic scales, which is also used in Jazz. Different songs use vocables (words with no definite meaning), such as fa la la la la in deck the halls. This was used in a lot of Native North American music. If you like music it would be fun to learn about the history of all different cultures of music that made our music possible...not just always learning about symphonies/major European music.

Che Documentary

If I were to write a documentary about Che I would make sure that I told all sides of the story. I would have information about his family and childhood. I would share about his adventures across the continents and have quotes/photos from his journeys. It would be important to talk about both sides of the argument when talking about what he did in the Cuban revolution so that people could decide whether or not they thought he was a hero. I would tell about his meetings with Castro and how that effected him. I would also tell about his later years. Why he was in disguise in his native country and how he was captured and murdered. I would tell about how his remains were found and brought back to Cuba. Finally I would sum it up with the overall importance of his life and the different ways that he is viewed today. (Maybe even have information about why people are making movies and wearing tee shirts with Che in/on them.)

(the photo is of Che Guevara with Fidel Castro)

My Imaginary Road Trip

Road Trip!

I have never taken a road trip anywhere far away. I think that it would be interesting to take a trip across the country and across all of the different continents just to see the different ways of life that people have depending on where they are living. It would be fun to experience different cultures and meet new people. If I were to go on a road trip i would want to bring someone along with me. One of the things that i would want to do would be to visit different wonders of nature, such as the grand canyon or yellowstone national park. I would also want to meet people from different cultures, see the way they live their lives, and try their food. I guess i would drive, but it would also be fun to take busses, trains, and other means of transportation depending where I was at the time. It would be really neat to use an animal (donekey, horse, or whatever they use as cars in some places). Sometimes it would also be nice to just stop driving and walk through something.

Impression of The Motorcycle Diaries

I think that it would be an interesting journey throughout Ernesto Che Guevara's life. From what I heard about him from Beck I think it will be interesting to see what type of man he was from his own perspective. It would also be interesting to find out whether his people thought of him as a hero or as an evil man. For background information, I think we should research the time period as well as Guevara. I think that there will be issues between what he believes/wants to do and what the people want to do (because it seems that he headed multiple concentration camps and killed many people.) Reading into the text I think that it is going to be a very interesting book.

A boring Cover doesn't always mean a Boring Book

I guess what is on the cover can decide whether or not I am interested in a book when looking in a library. If the cover/paragraph on the back seems boring I would be less likely to take that book out. “The Hiding Place” caught my attention because of what was written on the back of it and how it was a true story. When reading the book I was always wondering what was going to happen next. It is about a woman who hid Jews in her home during WWII and was eventually put into a concentration camp. Even thought she is going through all of these bad things, God keeps doing miraculous things in her life and eventually she gets out of the camp “by mistake”. It kept my attention throughout the book because of the words written on the cover.

From other things that I have read, I have found that just because a book has a bad or uninteresting cover, doesn't mean that it is a bad book. Sometimes the author could even have a point behind having a plain cover or a depressing cover.

=)

Chief Executioner now a star?

I thought that it was funny how Beck reacted to Che. He was outraged at this mans popularity and yet he acted as if it was all a silly joke. This made it more interesting to listen to at first, but after listening to him for a while his tone became very annoying. I agree that it is crazy that this man Che, who was “the king of communism” (Beck), is being worn on a tee shirt and watched in a movie as if he was a hero. Castro was able to hide a lot of the bad things he was doing during his regime. From what Beck said it seems that he was able to idolize Che and that he waited to do so AFTER his death. From one statement Beck said “The king of communism is now the ultimate capitalist” makes it seem as if people are just trying to make money. Children are wearing tee shirts with Che on them, which Beck compares to wearing a tee shirt with Hitler on it. The man that Beck interviews says that these kids have no idea who this man really is, “he is just like a rock start to them”. The problem is that the people that do know who he is are not saying anything to them or fighting against this. Hollywood could just not know what this man really did, but most likely they just want to make money off of the movie and so they sweep his true identity under the rug so to speak.

Beck gets his point across to the audience by being sarcastic about everything. He made it seem like a story, but in making it funny he was able to get his point across about how Che was actually a bad man and how it was crazy and horrible that he was becoming a star and a legend so that people could make money. Because people want to make money they are giving him a fake legacy and making an evil man who was behind Castro’s coming to power and who was a chief executioner and jailer in concentration camps. The problem with Becks point of view is that he doesn't really say why he is a hero to people. He is one sided about everything. Obviously the people of Cuba consider Che a hero and they know more about his life. This makes it hard to trust Che. Right now he is a mysterious person to me.

If what Beck was saying is true than I agree that it is ridiculous to have people wearing him on their shirts. If, however, there is a different side to the story, it might not be so ridiculous. He has a way of making someone agree with him, but people with an education would not be satisfied because there are a lot of holes and the other side of the argument is not shown.

Some call Che a hero and others, like Beck, think that he is a traitor. A movie was made about what he did in Cuba. I think that the Cuban people have a different idea of Che because he helped overthrow their old government. Maybe it is just Hollywood wanting to make money, but maybe Che was actually a hero. I am looking forward to find out the truth about this whole debate!